Sparkling Habu

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Hans Breuer (twoton)
Posts: 3230
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 3:19 am
Location: Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo)
Contact:

Sparkling Habu

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

It's the Plum Rain season, which means six kinds of rain (rated "hard drizzle" to "tropical torrent") continuously over the course of three weeks in May and June. Last night it let up enough to allow safe driving, so I decided to test the theory that snakes also come out during the rain, not only right before and after it. Lo and behold, I found seven snakes during two hours of cruising, so QED. None of them was interesting enough to warrant getting me and the photo gear out into the downpour, and as I was herping solo, there was nobody to hold the umbrella. I did find one humongous, four-foot Manybanded krait (Bungarus multicinctus) which, alas, happened to cross the road at a spot where I couldn't park the car, so I had to let it go. But fate did present me with a nice photo op after all, in the shape of this glorious raindrop-adorned Taiwan Habu (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus) sitting right in the middle of the road. I've seen wet snakes before, but never covered in single drops like this one. I wonder if the semi-keeled scales might have contributed to the phenomenon? (Sorry about the crappy pictures, thanks to the rain it was a bit of a rush job)

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
Jason Mintzer
Posts: 101
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 7:25 am
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by Jason Mintzer »

That is an awesome snake. :beer:
User avatar
Gibson
Posts: 127
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 3:59 pm
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Contact:

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by Gibson »

Great find! THanks for posting!
User avatar
Hans Breuer (twoton)
Posts: 3230
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 3:19 am
Location: Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo)
Contact:

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Thanks, guys. The habu is actually so ubiquitous here that I'm too "meh" to take pix of it anymore, unless it does something special. But seeing as it seems to enjoy a certain following here, I'll photograph a few more next time I come across them....which will probably be tonight. :-)
onionsack
Posts: 8
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 2:36 am

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by onionsack »

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote:Thanks, guys. The habu is actually so ubiquitous here that I'm too "meh" to take pix of it anymore, unless it does something special. But seeing as it seems to enjoy a certain following here, I'll photograph a few more next time I come across them....which will probably be tonight. :-)
Deo volente

Nice shots, btw...this rain clearly has its advantages. :beer:
Paul White
Posts: 2288
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:52 pm
Location: Amarillo, Texas

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by Paul White »

I think I'm safe in guessing that most of us are North American, so *anything* from Asia, Africa or Europe is a treat :) 'specially for those of us w/out the money to ever go herping internationally.
User avatar
Hans Breuer (twoton)
Posts: 3230
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 3:19 am
Location: Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo)
Contact:

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

I know, but one has to be delicate - there's always the danger of flooding the forum with the same species over and over again......see my Bamboo viper posts :-)
User avatar
Jason Mintzer
Posts: 101
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 7:25 am
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Sparkling Habu

Post by Jason Mintzer »

I never get tired of the bamboo vipers, keep them coming.
Post Reply